Many structures such as buildings and homes include rooms which require lighting. Many rooms include lighting fixtures including a lighting source for artificially lighting the room as desired. The lighting fixtures are generally electrically powered, and such can be costly to operate. As such, natural lighting by allowing natural light from exterior of a room to enter the room is desirable to reduce energy consumption. Further, natural lighting is more pleasant to the eye and is generally diffuse.
Skylights have been utilized to provide ambient or natural lighting through the ceiling of rooms in structured having roofs. Conventional skylights include a duct extending from a opening in the ceiling of the room to an opening in the roof of the structure where the room resides, to allow natural light from the sun to enter the room. Some skylights include an exterior door for regulating the amount of light entering the skylight duct. However, although conventional sky lights provide natural lighting in rooms, as natural lighting diminishes, such as at the end of the day or on cloudy days, auxiliary lighting fixtures must be utilized to light the room. However, such auxiliary lighting fixture requires additional purchase and installation costs. Further, existing skylights do not provide any means of ventilating a room.
There is, therefore, a need for a skylight system to provide lighting to a room as desired, and to also provide ventilation.